New animal study may explain why alcohol consumption increases breast c...( developed a novel mouse breast cancer m...),Health

developed a novel mouse breast cancer model. The model mimics human breast cancer disease in which the estrogen receptor-positive breast adenocarcinoma cells were subcutaneously injected near the pad of the fourth mammary gland of female immunocompetant mice (C57BL/6). The six-week-old female mice were fed with moderate EtOH (one percent in drinking water) for four weeks, the equivalent of two drinks per day in humans. The control mice received regular drinking water only.

In the second week of the experiment, mouse breast cancer cells (5x105 E0771) were injected at cite referenced above. At the end of the experiment, the tumors were isolated to measure tumor size, examine intratumoral microvessel (IM) density via CD 31 immunohistochemistry staining, and assessing VEGF protein levels via ELISA. These steps were taken to determine the effects of EtOH intake in physiologically relevant doses on tumor growth and angiogenesis in mouse breast cancer.

Results

The researchers found:

• that moderate alcohol consumption significantly increased the tumor size of breast cancer in mice, which was a 1.96-fold increase in tumor weight vs. control mice;

• that alcohol intake caused a 1.28-fold increase in tumor microvessel density vs. the control group;

• a significant increase in tissue protein levels of VEGF were found in the tumors of the mice treated with EtOH vs. control group;

• EtOH intake did not cause significant changes in the body weight of the mice.

Conclusions

This study presents the first animal model to confirm that alcohol consumption stimulates tumor growth and malignancy of breast cancer, and reveals some of the mechanisms of alcohol-induced breast cancer. The findings demonstrate that even moderate alcohol consumption significantly stimulates tumor growth of breast cancer and that induction of tumor angiogenesis and VEGF expression
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Contact: Donna Krupa
DKrupa@the-APS.org
301-634-7209
American Physiological Society
29-Apr-2007

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